Volunteers met at the Westmere Fire Department in Guilderland Sunday to fill up large trucks with bags of food to donate to the Regional Food Bank.

According to organizer Kathy Busch she began the food drive eight years ago in an effort to help restock shelves at food banks after the holiday.

The first year Busch held the drive she was able to collect 100 pounds of food.

Busch’s desire to help turned into one of the biggest food drives the Regional Food Bank of North Eastern New York holds.

“Most of the people that are in need of food are people who have disabilities people that are seniors and also children,” said Busch “Hunger is a huge problem in our community that is the biggest thing to understand.”

For the first time in the food drives history people were also offered the opportunity to make financial contributions.

According to organizers they are expecting to collect around 25 thousand pounds of food.